Tyler Koteskey ’11 has just finished his freshman year at the University of California, Los Angeles, and he spent part of it organizing a record-breaking rally for presidential candidate Ron Paul. More than 6,600 people attended the event in early April, making it Paul’s largest rally ever. It got so large, in fact, that after booking an initial venue, Koteskey had to find a bigger one. The RSVPs kept pouring in, far beyond what he expected, and Koteskey continued to accommodate them, watching the numbers swell well into the thousands. The event ended up being held in Straus Stadium at the Los Angeles Tennis Center. According to Koteskey, “All of this was accomplished within a week, mostly during spring break, as I recovered from impacted wisdom teeth extraction. Luckily it all worked out in the end!”

There were few empty seats at Straus Stadium, and huge lines to get in. The event was widely covered, with stories in The Daily Bruin, The Daily Bruin Radio and The Washington Times hailing the event as “a scene that made Beatlemania seem tame” and “a complete success.”

At the time of the event, Koteskey was also looking at summer internships. “I was also accepted into the Alpha Lambda Delta Honors Society for academic achievement freshman year,” he added, making this a truly momentous first year of college.